Inpatient chemotherapy in small cell lung cancer as a high-risk care-delivery phenotype: National Inpatient Sample analysis.

Abstract

e23193 Background: Small cell lung cancer (SCLC) is typically treated with outpatient systemic therapy; inpatient chemotherapy during acute hospitalization represents a high-risk care-delivery phenotype driven by delayed diagnosis, access barriers, or acute clinical decompensation rather than tumor biology alone. National data describing this care pathway and its inpatient outcomes remain limited. Methods: The U.S. National Inpatient Sample (2016–2023) was analyzed using survey weights. Adult hospitalizations meeting an ICD-10–based proxy definition for small cell lung cancer, defined by lung cancer diagnoses combined with neuroendocrine malignancy codes and excluding palliative care admissions, were identified. Inpatient chemotherapy was defined using ICD-10-PCS administration codes with prespecified sensitivity definitions. Outcomes included in-hospital mortality (primary), ICU-level care, sepsis, acute kidney injury, length of stay, hospitalization costs, and routine discharge. Multivariable survey-weighted logistic regression adjusted for patient demographics, payer, admission characteristics, and hospital factors. Results: The analytic cohort included 2,507 unweighted hospitalizations, representing 12,535 nationally weighted admissions. In multivariable analyses adjusting for demographics, payer, admission characteristics, and hospital factors, inpatient chemotherapy was independently associated with higher in-hospital mortality (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] 2.31, 95% CI 1.48–3.60) and greater ICU-level care (aOR 2.80, 95% CI 1.86–4.23). These associations were consistent across prespecified sensitivity analyses. In unadjusted analyses, inpatient chemotherapy occurred in 12.3%–19.3% of admissions annually from 2016–2023 and was associated with higher mortality (8.7% vs 5.2%), greater ICU-level care (11.8% vs 4.9%), longer length of stay (11.6 vs 7.0 days), higher costs ($38,446 vs $23,746), and lower routine discharge rates (42.8% vs 48.4%). Among 400 admissions with procedure-day data, chemotherapy was administered a mean of 3–5 days after admission. Late inpatient chemotherapy (day ≥2) was associated with higher mortality (10.6% vs 5.6%), greater ICU-level care (14.8% vs 9.2%), longer hospitalization (14.1 vs 8.0 days), and higher costs ($46,203 vs $28,025) compared with early chemotherapy (day 0–1), supporting inpatient chemotherapy as a marker of late care escalation rather than planned inpatient treatment. Conclusions: Inpatient chemotherapy identifies a high-risk care-delivery phenotype in hospitalized small cell lung cancer, with higher mortality, greater ICU-level care, and increased resource use, supporting its role as a marker of late care escalation or system-level barriers and a scalable quality indicator.